26 



THE OAK. 



whicli, impressive in spite of its unimportance, 

 will be remembered. Being remembered, it serves 

 to illustrate my subject, and gives me tbe oppor- 

 tunity of saying that tbe field Xaturalist has 

 many such fertile reminiscences to fall back upon 

 in his moments of reflection ; more, perhaps, than 

 any other man. This incident in particular re- 

 minds me not only of a happy day spent in the 

 woods, but, besides this, it traces much more 

 satisfactorily than any historian ever did, the 

 worship of my Pagan forefathers to its source. 

 Might it not have been under the influence of 

 feelings such as were then excited in me, that 

 the first Celt who worshipped Tornawa, the god 

 of thunder, imder the form of an Oak, received 

 his primary impressions of the Divine origin of 

 Nature ? It were well if we, whenever we saw 

 the symbol of God in His works, were to imitate 

 the devotion of such an one, instead of resting 

 merely on poetic beauty." Such light as he 

 had, he followed. To what might not ice ascend 

 if we as faithfully suffered oui'selves to be guided 

 by the Sun of Revelation ! 



The Oak is remarkable for sending out young 

 shoots of spring foliage (called Lammas shoots) 

 late in the season, when its proper leaves are fully 

 matured ; and this is more particularly the case 

 when the latter have been injured. On the 2nd 

 of August, 1844, the exposed Oaks at Penrose in 

 Cornwall suff^ered severely from a violent storm 

 from the west. In the course of a few hours all 

 the leaves which had been unprotected from its 

 influence, shrivelled up (without, however, ac- 

 quiring the true autumnal tint) and died. But 

 not long after, a second spring, as it were, set 



